Tuesday, February 28, 2017

The global EV market had a sales slump last month, with the 39.000 units delivered in January representing a meager 2% growth YoY, this sudden growth drop cannot be attributed to the US market or Europe, but to the dismal performance of the Chinese market.

In the meantime, the Nissan Leaf started the year in the leadership, something that wouldn't be much of a surprise, if it wasn't the oldest model in this Top 10 and the lowest range all-electric car here. Still, it has two important aces: First, it is sold worldwide, second, and most importantly, at this point Nissan has enough margin to make some deep discounts, winning customers by price.

In Second we have the ZE 40-boosted Renault Zoe, the best position ever achieved by the French model, and that's without selling it in China or North America, now imagine how high it could get if Renault decided to deliver in those two markets...

Below these two, we have a couple more surprises, with the BMW i3 reaching Third Place and the Tesla Model X narrowly surpassing its older brother Model S, while in the second half of the Top 10, there are three new models to the ranking, with the Toyota Prius Prime already appearing in #7, the VW Passat GTE showing up in #8, confirming the importance of the European ranking this month, while the Volvo XC90 PHEV(!) shows up in #10, the first time in a long time (Since 2014) that a Volvo sits this high in the ranking.

Interestingly, there's no Chinese model in sight...

Pl

WORLD

Jan.

YTD

%

'16Pl

1

Nissan Leaf

3.679

3.679

9

1

2

Renault Zoe

2.606

2.606

7

8

3

BMW i3

2.389

2.389

6

6

4
5
6

Tesla Model XTesla Model SChevrolet Volt

2.037
2.009
1.872

2.0372.0091.872

5
5
5

7
2
4

7

Toyota Prius Prime

1.366

1.366

3

64

8

Volkswagen Passat GTE

1.340

1.340

3

19

9

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

1.337

1.337

3

5

10

Volvo XC90 T8

1.190

1.190

3

26

TOTAL

39.380

39.380

Manufacturers - BMW #1!

BMW started the year on a high note, leading the EV charge with 5.232 units, or 3.6% of all the brand sales last month, followed by a strong Nissan and a close Tesla.

Chevrolet and Renault benefited from fresh product to climb in the ranking, but the most surprising results show up below them, with Mercedes hitting #7, its highest position ever, mostly thanks to their GLC350e SUV sales climb, while Volvo was #9, with 4% of all sales coming from the Swedish maker wearing a plug, and SAIC Roewe was #10, with over a thousand PHEV's registered, or some 5% of all sales coming from the automaker in January.

The Japanese EV was down 48% YoY in January, with some 1.800 units, placing the EV Share at 0,46%. With numbers below last year volumes, one has to go back five years to see such low numbers, which doesn't come as a surprise, considering how the two local heavy-weights are behaving.

The 30kWh-kick effect has waned and the Nissan Leaf, the main driving force of the market, responsible for 78% of the market, has seen its sales slow down, so unless Nissan throws something new to the table (40kWh version, Gen 2 Leaf...), sales will continue to drop and the upcoming Second Generation Toyota Prius PHEV will have the 2017 Best Seller trophy served on a silver platter.To worsen things, the emissions scandal is continuing to hurt Mitsubishi and its Outlander PHEV, with registrations down 76%(!) to 190 units last month.The remaining models in the ranking have comparatively small numbers, with the front two models gobbling 88% of the market, but not all is lost, the Second Generation Prius PHEV is expected to arrive soon and if Toyota managed to win the 2012 Best Seller title with a "light range" (Putting it in mild terms) Prius PHEV, then this decent-range, competitively priced second generation should improve significantly on the result achieved that year (12.300 units), which given the current state of affairs, should be more than enough to beat the current front runners and spike sales of this dormant market.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

The European EV market
had some 19.000 registrations last month, up 31% Year-on-Year, with
the Renault Zoe starting the year in the leadership:

#1 Renault Zoe – With the ZE40 version
finally arriving to selected markets, registrations were up 80% YoY to 2.602 units, jumping to the leadership
in January, winning already some 800 units over the second placed BMW i3. Besides
the expected good performance at home (1.646 units), the French hatchback had also
good results in Norway (240 units), Germany (180) and Austria (104 units).

#2
BMW i3 – The German Stormtrooper
model continues to profit from the 33 kWh sales boost, this time with 1.818 units being delivered. Besides
the usual Norway, with 622 units, other markets where the Bimmer performed well were Germany (388 deliveries, up 160%!), the
United Kingdom (210 units) and Austria (94). Interestingly, the fully electric
version is outselling the range extended version on a 3 to 1 ratio, when twelve
months ago, most sales belonged to the Rex version.

#3 Nissan Leaf – “Hey, remember me?” – The
old warrior still has an ace up its sleeve, called “Discounts”. While it may be
getting long in the tooth, currently it is the only model offering generous
discounts, wooing bargain-seeking buyers, in January it delivered 1.386 units, seeing its sales increase
29% regarding the same month last year. This proves that besides range, price
is also a decisive trump card to win buyers.

#4 VW Passat GTE – The Volkswagen midsize
offering had a better than expected result, with 1.340 units, record results in Sweden (549 units) and Norway (411)
absorbed most of registrations, but Germany (157 sales) also saw a positive
month. With the right mix of electric range, space, power and price, the Passat
GTE is a continuing success among company fleets across Europe.

#5 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – The
Japanese SUV started the year on the wrong foot, registering only 1.114 units, down 14% YoY, as it failed
to deliver in Norway (144 units, worst result in a year) and the United Kingdom
(Down a harsh 75%), with the bright spot in Germany (282 units, best
performance in 19 months), being unable to balance things.

Volvo XC90 Up, Golf GTE and Audi A3 Down

Below the top five
places, the Volvo XC90 PHEV had a surprising 52% jump on sales, to 1.035 units,
surging to Sixth Place, while the #8 BMW 225xe Active Tourer (687 units)
continued its positive sales trend and two rising SUV’s, the #10 Mercedes
GLC350e (629 units, new personal best) and #11 Tesla Model X (586 units, new
off-peak record), confirmed once again what we all have been suspecting plug-in
SUV’s are a Thing now.

On the losers side,
if the VW Golf GTE (406 units, worst performance in three years) performance is
excused by the upcoming restyle, its Audi sibling, the A3 e-Tron does not have
any excuse to justify the rather disappointing 385 registrations. Or does it?
Is Audi about to increase the battery size of its hatchback plug-in? Mmmm…

A (relative) hot item
is the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, if it weren’t for availabilty constraints, the
Korean would probably already be in the Top 10.

In the manufacturers
ranking, BMW started where it left off last year, in the leadership, with 21%
share, followed by Renault (15%) in Second Place and Volkswagen (12%) in Third.
A surprise follows in Fourth Place, with Mercedes showing up just below the
podium, with 10% share.